A Bielefelder Thread !

[Sill]

That's good to know about keeping a dead body on a pole to ward off if it works. In my situation we don't mind the Crows in the neighborhood. They have NEVER come into the yard and never bother the hens. The closest they come is to sit on a telephone pole or the roof of a building. Crow flocks are excellent for chasing off Cooper's or Red-tailed Hawks around here and as long as the Crows stay out of our yard I don't mind their patrols of the area. However I wish a dead Sparrow on a pole would deter the scourge of Sparrow flocks that invade en masse!!!! Sparrows are not even native to the USA and were brought as cage pets by the British centuries ago and now they are the worst bird pest -- killing other bird species, robbing other species nests to make their own nests, and will flock-attack a bird as big as a Crow. Sparrows are horrible little devils for all their cuteness and my guess is that they'll be the pests that bring in disease as deadly as the AI to our backyard flocks. They already bring in lice/mites/worms!!!

Sparrows are like avian cockroaches. Don't forget fowl pox. We had a horrible run of pox the end of this summer. The mosquitoes were so bad, even hiding in the nest boxes during the heat of the day only to come out at night to attack the chickens. Of course the virus is carried by the wild birds, and the sparrows are everywhere. I ended up cutting fresh lemon grass and putting in the nest boxes, coop and run several times a week to help repel the mosquitoes. Still trying to plug every hole the sparrows can squeeze through.

 

[jbkirk]

Sorry for my ignorance but what is chicken pox?

 

[Sill]

Fowl pox is a virus carried by wild birds and passed to domestic birds via mosquitoes. There is a wet and a dry version of this disease, luckily mine got the milder dry form. It's usually worse toward the end of summer when the mosquitoes tend to be worse. There are many threads here on fowl pox if you want to read up on it.

 

[Odelia]

My Biel cockerel wearing his collar. It's working so far.

From what I understand they often get used to wearing it. Then they start crowing again.

 

[Sylvester017]

Yeah just like starlings!!!!

I just never equated tiny birds being vicious to survive. Even Hummies will dive-bomb you if they think you don't belong in the area! Thank goodness our Hummies know we bring out the syrup feeders for their Spring and Fall migrations. They will hover at the back door scolding us to refill their empty syrup and then follow us to the shepherd's hook while we hang the new feeder. I suppose Hummies can carry diseases too but at least they don't eat the expensive chicken feed or water like the dam* Sparrows.

 

[Sylvester017]

From what I understand they often get used to wearing it. Then they start crowing again.

If they start crowing again just adjust the tightness of the velcro around the neck again.

 

[Sill]

They do crow with the collar on, its just diminished in volume. So instead of 100 decibels it's 60.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: Oh I adore the hummingbirds! The do get very tame "ish" if you feed them regularly. I start putting the feeders out mid April and continue them until October.

 

[City farm]

My Biel cockerel wearing his collar. It's working so far.

From what I understand they often get used to wearing it. Then they start crowing again.

Yeah i kinda think that too. But so far his decibels or less. However the neighbor said he us waking up their boy's in the morning. So now he's going into a very tiny cage to sleep in at night and then I will let him out in the morning.in

 

[ChickCrazed]

I just wanted to share a couple pics of my Bielies! The poor Rooster has a bit of frostbite from our latest stretch of -20 degree weather!

I am also looking to track down some of the fabled "second line" from GFF if anyone knows where to get some. I'd prefer chicks but would do eggs!